I had a conversation with someone recently which made me think. It was about why some shows won't have female fights on their card. This person commented that although he personally was in favour, there were people who were worried that it might damage the sport's acceptance with the public. With MMA just starting to be recognised, showing a women's fight might set that back.

This seems to me to be a dubious argument. Sport as a whole is moving in the direction of more equality. Having a thriving women's scene increases, rather than decreases, the legitimacy of what we do. What's more - excluding women undermines our arguments for the acceptance of MMA. Whenever people try to demonise MMA, we come up with lots of arguments why it's a good thing (or at the very least not a bad one). And every one of those arguments applies equally to female MMA. We claim it is safe, that it's not about mindless violence, that like any sport it's about technique, athleticism, conditioning, hard training and dedication, and that it has physical, mental and emotional benefits to those who take part. So - why not have the courage of our convictions? To claim these things, but shy away from following them through to their logical conclusion just gives fuel to those who would dismiss us all as a bunch of violent thugs.

I also think that in this country we're way ahead on this one. A couple of weeks ago i fought on cagewarriors, it was the first fight on the show and it was exactly the same rounds and rules as all the other title fights. It is to the credit of the show, not to mention the audience and the MMA scene as a whole, that this was (as far as i am aware) accepted as perfectly normal and healthy. In fact, it wasn't until several days later that i stopped to think about it and reflected on how far we've come in the last few years since i started competing.

What we need now is get more women involved and build up a wider base of home grown talent. In order to do that, we need the public to see that we're here. Fortunately there are shows like CW with the courage to make that happen.

10-12-2005, 10:34 PM

Rosi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dexter Casey

MMA is a mans sport. Women should not be allowed to do it.
Women can do grappling but Vale Tudo is for men only.
Womens Thai boxing and Boxing shouldn't be allowed either.

Do you have any rational reasons for that, or is it just personal prejudice?

There's lots of things i don't like, but i don't necessarily think they should all be banned.

Quote:

MMA is not safe. How can it be safe?

I mean "relatively safe" in the sense that people don't (very often) get killed or permenantly damaged.

10-12-2005, 10:49 PM

Rosi

Quote:

I think there is only Cage Rage that doesn't have female bouts and they posted their reasons a while ago.

remind me....

10-12-2005, 11:08 PM

Rosi

I wasn't sure

11-12-2005, 11:34 AM

Rosi

I think there are two separate issues here. There's the question of standards, which is a valid one which needs to be addressed. I cringe as much as anyone else when i watch bad female fights. (Although, to be fair, i also see some dreadful male fights as well, even on some high profile international events.)

All i'm saying is that the argument "we can't have women's fights because it'll shock the public" is lame.

Dexter - i have no problem with your personal preference. Though we should all perhaps be a bit careful about saying that something "shouldn't be allowed" based on our personal preferences - after all, there are plenty of people who would like to see MMA banned altogether, based only on their own feelings about it.

11-12-2005, 11:05 PM

Wiegieboard

Rosi would beat the shit outa me. I don't see how it should be ok for me to fight on a show if I consented but not Rosi.

12-12-2005, 01:19 AM

Rosi

Quote:

the depth of good female fighters isn't especially high.

Totally agree - so we need to attract more women into the sport (as tez says). To do this, we need to show the public we're here - by including women's fights on the events most likely to be seen.

12-12-2005, 10:37 AM

Rosi

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxingbrit

I blame you

:eh:

12-12-2005, 11:08 AM

Rosi

ah, i see :)

12-12-2005, 02:22 PM

Hywel Teague

Quote:

Originally Posted by kieronhufc

My suggestion is a series of matches (like boxing) to push the ladies.